WASECA COUNTY. 405 



Topography.] 



is there tributary to the Le Sueur river, losco creek, the largest stream that enters lake Elysian . 

 receives a branch from the southwest named Silver creek. 



The basin of the Cannon river extends into the northeast part of Waseca county, including 

 northeastern losco, Blooming Grove, and the north part of Woodville, in all about sixty square 

 miles. A. considerable creek runs from losco northward to Waterville, and there empties into 

 the west part of lake Sakata, through which the Cannon river flows; and Crane creek, tributary 

 to the Straight river in Steele county, and by that to the Cannon river, has its source in Rice and 

 Watkins lakes at the north line of Woodville. 



Lakes. Lake Elysian, the largest body of water in this county, is five miles long and from 

 a third of a mile to one mile in width. It has a north-northeast trend, and lies mainly in Janes- 

 ville, but its north end is crossed by the county line. Rice lake, one and a third miles long from 

 west to east, in sections 5, 6, 7 and 8, and Willis lake, in the southwest quarter of section 9, 

 Janesville, lie west of lake Elysian; and lake Lily, and Reed's and Toner's lakes, each about a 

 mile long, with east-southeast trends, extend in a series southeastward from Okaman at the head of 

 lake Elysian, lying, except the northwest end of lake Lily, within the northwest quarter of loaco. 

 Helena lake, about three-quarters of a mile long from west to east, is crossed by the line between 

 section 31, losco, and section 36, Janesville. Four small lakes, a quarter to a half mile in length, 

 lie in Blooming Grove township. Rice lake, covering about a square mile, is crossed by the south 

 line of Blooming Grove, its greater part being in AVoodville ; and close on its east side is Wat- 

 kins lake, half as large, lying mainly in section 3, Woodville. Four other lakes lie in this town- 

 ship, within view from the Winona & St. Peter railroad. The first of these seen in proceeding 

 westward is Goose lake, about one and a half miles long from northeast to southwest, lying at 

 the north side of the railroad, three miles east of Waseca. Within a mile east of Waseca, this 

 road goes between Clear lake, one and a half miles long from north to south and half as wide, ly- 

 ing en the north, and Gaiter lake, about a mile long from north to south and a quarter of a mile 

 wide, on the south. Close west of Waseca, Loon lake, lying north of the railroad, has about the 

 same extent as Gaiter lake, but with trend from east to west. Other noteworthy lakes in 

 this county include lake Canfield, in the northeast part of Otisco; Thompson lake, two-thirds of 

 a mile long from east to west, in the north half of section 13, New Richland; Silver lake, nearly 

 two miles long from northeast to southwest and a half mile wide, in the west part of Wilton; 

 Wheeler lake, a half mile long, in section 5, Vivian; another, of similar size with the last, in the 

 north part of see. 26, Freedom; Mud lake, also of small size, being about two-thirds of a mile long- 

 with trend from east to west, in section 11, Alton; and Buffalo lake, the largest, excepting lake 

 Elysian, in this county, situated near the center of Alton, two miles long from northwest to south 

 east, having an area of about a thousand acres. 



Topography. The minor surface features of this county have been 

 determined by the conditions attending the accumulation of the glacial 

 drift or till. Its contour records the direction in which the ice-sheets 

 moved, and their boundaries, the form given to the surface ot this deposit 

 being apparently quite independent of the small inequalities of the under- 

 lying rocks. Upon these the drift rests as a continuous mantle, filling up 

 their depressions and making a more even expanse than those rocks prob- 

 ably exhibited before the glacial period, or would now show, were the cov- 

 ering of drift removed. The great slopes of the country, however, which 

 shape its basins of drainage and determine the general course of its rivers, 

 are due to the gradual changes in altitude of the older strata on which the 

 drift lies. Thus the southeast part of Waseca county is more than a hun- 



